E 453 
.069 
Copy 1 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. J. R. DOOLITTLE, OF WISCONSIN, 



ON 



H03IESTEADS FOR IVHITE 3IEN IN THE TEMPERATE ZONE— HOME- 
STEADS FOR BLACK MEN IN THE TROPICS— WHITE IMMIGRA- 
TION TO AND BLACK E3IIGRATION FROM THE UNITED 
STATES — A CONTINENTAL, POLICY, EMBRACING 
ALL CLIMES AND RACES, BRINGING FREE-* 
DOM AND HOMES TO ALL: 




DELIVERED 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 11, 18G2. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1862. 






\ 



SPEECH. 



The Senate having under consideration the bill (S. No. 
lol) to confiscate the property and free tlie slaves of rebels, 
the pending question was on the motion of Mr. WilleyIo 
anielid the tliiid section so as to make it read: 

Tliat it shall be the duty of the President of the United 
Stales to make provision i'or the transportation, coloniza- 
tion, and settlement in some tropical country, beyond the 
limits of the United States, of such persons of the African 
race made free hy the provisions of this act, and also of all 
other persons of the African race who are now free in any 
of the United States as may be willing to emigrate, or who 
may be hereafter manumitted either by the voluntary act of 
individuals or by State authority for the purpose of being 
so transportetl, colonized, and settled, having tirst obtained 
the consent of the Government of said country to their pro- 
tection and settlement within the same, with all the rights 
and privileges of freemen ; and the sum of $5,000,000 is 
hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated, to be applied by the President in 
carrying into effect the provisions of this section — 

Mr. DOOLlTTLEsaid: Mr. President, before 
proceeding to tlie question upon which I design [ 
submitting some remarks, I slmll now do what I i 
iiave never done before in the Senate, and what 1 
trust I shall never have occasion to do again — 
refer to a matter personal to myself. Some time , 
ago, when the bill for emancipating the slaves I 
in this District was pending liere, the honorable 
Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Davis] moved an | 
amendment to appropriate $100,000 to colonize 
out of the limits of the United States all persons 
set free by the act. To that amendment I moved 
tlie following: 

.and Ic it further enacted, That the sum of ,«1 00,000, out 
of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
shallhe expended under the direction of the President of 
the United Suites to aid in the colonization and settlement, 
with their own consent, of free people of color from said 
Dir-lriet in the republics of Ilayli and Liberia, or elsewhere. 

I did sn to extend ils benefit to all free persons 
of color within the District: fir.st, because I would 
not confine it to those only who would be liber- 



ated under the act; and second — which was the 
more material point with me — because I would 
make that colonization voluntary, with their oxen 
consent, and not compulsory. On that occasion, 
I made the following remark, which I read from 
the Globe: 

" The question being upon the amendment to the amend- 
ment, 

"Mr. DooLiTTLE said: Mr. President, believing, as T do, 
that all men have a natural right to their liberty, and that 
Congress has exclusive legislative power in the District of 
Columbia, I am readv to give my vole to put an end to sla- 
very here forever. But, sir, I cannot support the amend- 
ment proposed to this bill by the Senator from Kentucky 
[Mr. Davis] unless my amendment to it shall be adopted, 
and then I will give it my hearty support." 

This remark, that I would not support the 
amendment to the bill unless mine was adopted, 
was misapprehended, I have no doubt, by some 
of the reporters in the gallery who are permitted 
to take notes of our proceedings; and the New 
York Times, a journal of wide circulation and 
great influence, by mistake reported me assaying 

j that I would not vote for the bill iise// unless my 

! amendment were adopted. I said no such thing, 

\ and I thought no such thing. That I thought it 
much wiser to join colonization with emancipa- 
tion is true. 1 "thought so then; I think so still, 

! and will endeavor to demonstrate it before I close. 

.This report of the Times has been quoted exten- 
sively by the press in my own State, and as it 
bears upon a question on which our people feel 

I a deep interest, it has, without intending it, done 
injustice to my position. 

I 'While on this subject I will say a word also as 
to the course of the Chicago Tribune. This pro- 
fessed Republican journal has a wider circulation 
than any other in'the Northwest. It circulates 
all over my Stale and wields a powerful influence 
there. Hundreds of copies are daily sold in my 



own town, to my friends. In giving the account 
of the vote on that bill it stated that I voted against 
the bill for emancipation in this District. This is 
an entire mistake. I will say further, sir, that 1 
am at a loss to account for the tone and. conduct 
of that journal of late in some respects. One of 
its editors, as postmaster at Chicago, is receiving 
the patronage of the l)est office in the gift of a Re- 
publican Administration in the State of Illinois; 
annual patronage to the amount of perhaps five or 
six thousand dollars. I can very well uiider.stand 
how an unfriendly newspaper may be led to attack, 
misrepresent, and depreciate the standing, posi- 
tion, and action of its political opponents; bull do 
not understand Irow it is that a Republican jour- 
nal receiving its support mainly from Republicans 
and from their Administration can, ujion any con- 
siderations of principle, gratitude, friendship, or 
policy, intentionally or carelessly make such mis- 
representations of the friends of the Administra- 
tion as go into that journal. I do not refer to my- 
self alone; I refer to men abler than myself; to 
men liigh in position and in the confidence of the 
Administration. Nor should 1 mention this if it 
was the first case in which that journal had mis- 
stated my position here as a Senator. If for any 
reason that journal supposes that by such a course 
it can influence my action here, or if the editor of 
a certain other professed Republican journal in 
my own State, whose name 1 will not speak, for 
it is not fit to be simken in this Senate, su|iposes 
that lie can intimidate me, or, baser still, levy 
black mail upon me to gain his silence or his sup- 
port, or to change my action or restrain the free 
utterance of my convictions here or elsewhere, 
they do not know the man witli whom they deal. 
I know the great power and influence of the 
press. Itis great for good', and great for evil, too. 
±So man who would leave the legacy of a good 
name to liis children can be insensible to its at- 
tacks. To every public man, in trying times like 
these, it is grateful to the heart to know that his 
course is approved by his countrymen, at least 
that it is not misrepresented by the press of his 
own political friends- 
Sir, I have no money with which to purcha.se its 
favors, to pension correspondents, or pny fov tel- 
egraphic dispatches — (hose purchased encomiums 
so often and so unworthily bestowed, by which 
great men and lieroes are manufactured here, 
sometimes of very small and very poor material; 
and if I had the gold of California, I would not 
humilintc myself to make the purchase. 

And I now say, once for all, 1 ask nothing of the 
press but the truth, and I take all the responsibil- 
ity of my opinions, my action, and my votes. 

Mr. President, I come now to tiie issue made 
•with me by the honorable Senator from New 
Hampshire', [Mr. IIalk,] in his speech yesterday 
on the subject of the possible colonization of the 
increase of the colored jiopulation of the United 
States. He more than once denounced coloni- 
zation as a thing impossible, impracticable, and 
absurd, one of " the most absurd ideas that ever 
cnu-red into the head of man or woman." Among 
other things he said: 

"Tbn arcat lawsot"iiatiiru aiiclof Piovulcnce will go on. 
•One of tliu laws of the condition of this class is, tliai tliey 



increase faster tlian the whites. Tliey liave increased 
They arc to-day vastly cxceediriR in nunibfrthe whole Uni- 
ted States when they bade defiance to the power of the 
niij;litlc-st kingdom of tlie earth. They are hero, and despite 
all vonr puny eflbrts they will remain here. Tliey will in- 
crease. They will increase probably in about the ratio that 
they have iHcrcased. It will bother the wisest philosophy, 
it will set at naucht even the philanthropy and wisdom of 
my friend from Wisconsin [.Mr. Doolittli;] to meet it with 
any schemes looking to colonization in Central .America, 
South America, or elsewhere." 

He admitted that it might elevate the condition 
of a few, but stoutly denic'd that it could remove, 
in any possible deg'ree, this black population, or 
materially retard their increase. 

I stated yesterday that, as the Senator from 
New Hamiisliire was coming down to facts and 
figures, I desired to meet hirn. I then thought I 
might not occupy more than ten minutes in reply 
to him on this subject; but as my honorable friend 
from New York, [Mr. Hahris,] to whom the 
floor would be assigned to-day, is detained by 
sickness, I will ask the indulgence of the Senate 
while I shall state the facts and figures a little 
more in detail than I expected to do last even- 
ing. 

Mr. President, I regret exceedingly that the 
honorable Senator from New HampsJiire, after 
the usual motion made by him on Friday to ad- 
journ over Saturday until Monday, is not now 
present in the Senate. I should be glad if he were 
here, especially after giving him notice last even- 
ing as I did, that as he was coming down to his- 
tory, geography, and arithmetic, i desired to ci- 
pher with him a little on this question. It is 
not very often that I have an opportunity to meet 
that honorable gentleman ujion equal terms. In 
the matter of rhetoric, figures of speech, wit and 
humor; in that magnetic power of voice and man- 
ner which can change at once from the grave and 
serious to the humorous and joyous; which al- 
most at the Siime moment can dissolve us in 
tears and convulse us with laughter; in that power 
of declamation which he knows so well how to 
use, to influence the minds and move the passions 
of mankind, 1 am by no means the equal of the 
honorable Senator from New Hamjishire. I yield 
to his great superiority at once. Hut, sir, when 
we come down to facts and figures, when 1 can 
bring him to the blacklward, v.-hen i can be per- 
mitted to open the book of history, take down the 
map of the world, and look at geograpdiy and cli- 
mate and men and races, tiieii I feel that I can 
meet the honorable Senator from New Hamp- 
shire on equal terms. As I have him there now, 
I propose to cipher at the blackboard, even in his 
absence, as I gave him notice last eviiiiiig I would 
cipher with him on this question to-day. It is my 
purpose to confine myself to the great issue be- 
tween us: is the colonization of a number equal 
to or greater than I he annual increase of the colored 
population to tropical countries, first of all, 

A THING POSSIBLE.' 

I propose to look into the tables and sec what 
that annual increase is. 1 have before me a table 
carefully prepared by the chii-f of tlio Census Bu- 
reau. In looking into that you will find what I 
have briefly al)slracted, showing the rate percent, 
of increase, in columns, during each decade pre- 



ceding the year mentioned in the column of years, 
as follows: 



^H 


o o 


w o 


C."- 


o o rt 










„ ~ °' 






















III 


ill 


? c > 

a V '^ 

CJ o ai 


i« a* o 
(J o t> 


ncrea 
cent 
tal 
tion 


S 




-^ 


"" 


^ 


1800 


35.68 


27.97 


82.23 


35.02 


1810 


36.18 


33.40 


72.00 


36.45 


1850 


34.11 


28 79 


2") . 23 


33.13 


IKiO 


34.03 


30.61 


36.^7 


33.49 


1840 


34.72 


2.i.81 


20.87 


32.67 


1850 


37.74 


28.82 


12.46 


35.87 


1860 


38.12 


23.38 


10.97 


35.58 



In the decade ending in 1800, tliat is for the ten 
years between 1790 and 1800, the increase of 
whites was 35. 68 per cent.; the increase of slaves 
27.97 per cent.; the increase of free colored per- 
sons 82.28 per cent.; the total increase of popu- 
lation 35.02 per cent. During that period manu- 
missions were very extensive. From 1800 to 
1810, the increase of whites was 3G.18 per cent., 
of slaves 33.40 per cent., (but during most of this 
period -the slave trade wi'nt on, and we also ac- 
quired Louisiana with its slaves,) and of the free 
colored people 72 per cent.; total increase 36.45 per 
cent. From 1810 to 1820, the increase of the whites 
was 34.11 per cent., of slaves 28.79 percent., (we 
acquired Florida about 1819, with its slaves,) and 
of the free colored 25.23 percent.; total, 33.13 per 
cent. From 1820 to 1830, the increase of the 
whites was 34.03 per cent., of the slaves 30.61 per 
cent., and of the free colored 30.87 per cent.; to- 
tal, 33.49 per cent. For the decade ending in 
1840, the increase of the whites was 34.72 per 
cent., of the slaves but 23.81 per cont.,of the free 
colored 20.87 per cent.; total, 32.67 per cent. For 
the decade ending in 1850, the increase of whites 
was 37.74 per cent., of slaves 28.82 per cent., (but 
during this period Texas was annexed with its 
slaves, increasing the rate per cent.,) that of free 
colored but 12.46 per cent,; total, 35.87 per cent. 
For the decade ending in 1860, which has just 
closed, the increase of whites was 33.12 per cent., 
of slaves 23.33 per cent., of free colored 10.97 per 
cent.; total, 35.58 per cent. The only increase, 
tlierefore, of the slave population during the last 
decade of ten -years has been 23.38 per cent., or 
a little more than 2.3 per cent, per annum. The 
increase of the free colored population during the 
same period of ten years is 10.97 per cent., being 
at the rate of alittle overone per cent. per annum, 
while the increase of the slave population is 2.3 
percent., almost 2.4 percent.; makmg theannual 
increase of four millions of slaves, 93,520. That 
would be the increase for the last year of the de- 
cade, taking the number of slaves to be, in round 
numbers, four millions. 

Now, Mr. President, six steamships of a large 
class, or indeed one single monster ship like the 
Great Eastern, carrying 12,000 passengers, would 
take " a number" equal to all the increase of the 
slaves in eight trips per annum to Liberia. This 
would give about six weeks for the round trip, to 
go to Africa and return. Yes, sir; eight trips 
only of that one ship, or of the six large class 



steamers I have supposed, would take away the 
whole increase. It", instead of going to Africa, those 
trips should be made from New York to the island 
of San Domingo, which could easily be done semi- 
monthly, she alone would carry more than three 
times the number of the annual increase of the 
4,000,000 of .slaves. The six steamships would 
do the same. 

If instead of being shipped from New York to 
San Domingo, they should, in the progress of 
events, go from the city of New Orleans to Vera 
Cruz, Yucatan or Honduras, or from South Caro- 
lina and Georgia to San Domingo, or nearer still, 
when, in the progress of events, the island of Cuba 
shall become, as it may, like Hayti, the home of 
the tropical race, those trips could be made every 
week, and this one ship orthose six large steam- 
ships, making weekly trips, could carry from the 
United States 624,000 persons annually. I beg to 
call the attention of Senators to these figures. I 
would that the Senator from New Hampshire was 
here at the blackboard with us now. The ciphers 
show this result, that that one ship alone, or the 
six ships supposed, could carry seven times the 
increase of this population in the United States 
every year. The first year they would carry the 
increase of 93,520; and in addition to that 520,500, 
leaving but 3,480,000 of slaves in the United States. 
The second year these same trips would carry lh(! 
increase, which would then only be 81,362, and 
besides the increase, would carry 542,638, leaving 
but 2,937,362. The third year these same trips 
could carry the increase, which would then be 
reduced to only 68,667, and 556,333 besides, 
leaving only 2,382,929. The fourth year these 
same trips would carry the increase, which would 
then be but 55,636, and also carry 568,314, leav- 
ing within the United States but ], 814, 605. The 
fifth year these same trips would carry' the in- 
crease, then reduced to 42,411, and besides the in- 
crease could carry 571,589, leaving but 1,243,194. 
The sixth year the same trips could carry the 
increase, then reduced to only 29,061, and besides 
the increase, carry 594,939, leaving but 648,255m 
the United States. The seventh year— yes, sir, 
the seventh year — this single ship, or these six 
steamships of large class which I have supposed, 
making weekly trips, could carry not only the 
increase, then reduced down to 15,150, but be- 
sides the increase could carry 608,850, leaving 
less than 40,000 of the slave population within the 
United States. 

This calculation has been made upon the as- 
sumption that colonization commenced at the end 
of the last decade when tlie census was taken. 

I will also avail myself of the following care- 
fully prepared tables working out this problem 
upon two other suppositions, made by Mr. Robert 
Patterson, of Piiiladelpliia: 

" In the tables following I have assumed as the 
annual number to be deported, 150,000 and 350,000, 
and allowing for the natural increase of the pop- 
ulation remaining, from year to year, I have cal- 
culated the progressive decrease of the slaves. It 
will be seen that, by an annual deportation of 
150,000, miscellaneously selected, the last rem- 
nant of the slave population would be removed 
by the year 1907. At the larger rate of 350,000^ 



6 



the removal would be complete in 1877. The ag- 
gregate numlier removed by the first supposition 
would be 6,470,000, distributed over a period of 
forty-five years; by the second it would be 
4,920,000 in fifteen years: 

Tabic s/ioii'inj the progressive decrease of the slave popula- 
tion of the United Stales, assumiti!; that 150,UUO of xtis- 
cellaneous selection are deported annually, beginning u-ith 
the year 1862. 

Year- Population. Year. Population. 

1862 4,181,000 188.") 2,513.000 

1863 4,12."i,000 1886 2,-419,000 

1864 4,068,000 1887 2,;)24,O00 

1865 4.0II>).000 1888 2,226,000 

1866 3.'.M9,000 1889 2,126.000 

1867 ;i;8.87,U00 1890 2.023,000 

1868 3,82.'>,000 1891 1,919,000 

1869 .'Uno.OOO 1892 1.812,000 

1870 3,695,000 1893 1.698,ii00 

1871 3,627,000 1894 I,,'i86.000 

1872 3,i>:.9,000 1895 1 ,472,000 

1873 3,489,000 189(i 1,355,000 

1874 3,417,000 1897 1,235,000 

1875 3,344;000 1898 1,113,000 

1876 3.269.000 1899 98«,0O0 

1877 3.l92;o()0 1900 860,000 

1878 3,113,000 1901 7.W,000 

1879 3.03;!,000 1902 596,000 

1880 2,951,000 1903 459,000 

1881 2^867,000 1904 320,000 

1682 2^782,000 1905 177,000 

1883 2,694,000 1906 30,000 

1884 2,604,000 1907 

Tabic showing the progressive decrease of the slave popula- 
tion of the United States, assuming that 3.50,000 of mis- 
cellaneous selection are deported annually, beginning with 
the year 1862. 
Year. Population. Year. Population. 

1862 -1.181.000 1870 1,963,000 

1863 3.82.5.000 1871 1,6.')7,000 

1864 3.66,3.000 1872 1 ;345,O0O 

1865 3.395.000 1873 1 .025,000 

1866 3.122.000 1874 698.000 

1867 2.842,000 1875 363.000 

1868 2„")5.5,ii00 1876 21,000 

1869 1,263.000 1877 0" 

Mr. President, I wish I had the Senator at the 
'blackboard with me. These figures tell llie story, 
and they answer all his high-sounding declama- 
tion about the impossibility of colonizing the an- 
nual increase of this rare front the United States 
to Jhc West Indies, Central or South America, or 
ever, to Africa. 

'I 'had occasion some two or three sessions since 
to Bdk another Senator to work out a problem 
at the blackboard — I refer to Mason, of Virginia. 
He iind been denouncing, in terms both loud and 
deep,itihe imnii-nse loss Virginia sustained by the 
csc«f)e'0f fuiritive slaves, lie said Virginia lost 
■every -year §100,000. But what did the ciphers 
show ? fUpon Iheassumption that she liad five hun- 
■dred thousand slaves, valued then at §800 each, 
their value would be §400,000,000, »ipon which a 
loss of ipilOO.OOO, or of the four thousundlli part, 
would be only a quarter of a mill on a dollar, or 
one fortieth of one per cent. The ivsult of this 
ciphering v.'as stated; the loss was so small, so in- 
significant, so utterly contemptible, that I do not 
•remember to have heard the los.s of properly in 
sieves escaping from Virginia ever m<'ntioned 
n2:nin here until after the beginning of this rebel- 
lion. 

But-to retunn, sir; let us look at tlie possibility 
of ■colonization in another point of view. The 



declaration is so often made that all the navies 
of the world could not accomplish it, I will work 
out another problem. The tonnage of the United 
States in sailing vessels is six million five hundred 
and nilieteen thousand one hundred and seventy- 
one tons, and the steam tonnage is eight hundred 
and thirty thousand eight hundred and eighty-five 
tons. I have before me a table prepared at the 
State Department, to which I refer for authority ; 
luit I will not now take lime to read it. It shows, 
I repeat, that our whole tonnage is seven millions 
three hundred and fifty thousand and sixty tons. 
The lasv on the subject of carrying passengers 
provides that there sliall not be carried upon ves- 
sels — 

" A greater number of passerifjers than in the proportion 
of one to every two tons ofsiich vessfl, not incluclin;i otiil- 
(iren under l\\o. age of one year in the computation ; and 
that two cliililren over one and under eight years of age 
sliall l)c computed as one passenger." 

If we were to rate the capacity of the tonnage 
of the United States, according to this law, to 
carry passengers, making this reduction on ac- 
count of children under eight years of age, one sin- 
gle trip of all the vessels of the United States would 
lake the whole of thi's population. This is, of 
course, an extreme case. 1 put it as such, simply 
to show the immense carrying capacity of our mer- 
cantile marine. 

But, Mr. President, there is another problem 
that I propose to examine on the blackboard. 
These tables, from which I have read, demon- 
strate that the free negro population of the Uni- 
ted States docs not increase one half as fast as the 
slave population. With all the manumissions 
added, with all tliT fugitives that escape to the 
free States, with all that, I repeat the ijiiportant 
fact — I really wish that Senator was here to cipher 
with it — that thr, increase of (lie free colored popu- 
lation in not one /ta//'of the increase per cent, of the 
slave population. From 1840 to 1850, as I have 
already stated, it was but 12.46 per cent., or at the 
rateof 1.25 per cent, annually. In the decade from 
1850 to I860, it was but 10.97 per cent., or a little 
less than 1.1 per cent, annually. 1 shall not go 
into any long statement of the reasons which pro- 
duce this great diflTerence between the amount of 
increase of the free colored and the slave popula- 
tion. It is enough to say that in a state of free- 
dom, from motives of prudence, or from other 
cause, they do not marry as early; and for some 
reasons there may be more deaths among their 
children. In slavery, where thf increase of off- 
spring is an increase of wealth, the master, from 
self-interest, does all in his power both toencour- 
age and protect it. 

On this point I will refer loan address made not 
long since by a gentleman now of this city, for- 
merly of Maine, George M. Weslon, Esq. His 
work on the progress of slavery in th.e United 
Slates, I believe, contains more facts, more statis- 
tics, and gives more information than any other 
book I have ever seen on the subject. I refer to 
his statements in that ad dress, there lore, with great 
confidence in their accuracy. I have derived many 
facts and figures and valuable suggestions from it, 
and 1 feel called upon to give him my thanks, 
: while I freely avail myself of them. He says, 



speaking of this difference in the increase of free 
colored and slaves: 

" It is by no means to be assunie<l, from llie fiict that the 
free negroes, in the small numbers in which they have ex- 
isted in this country durinp; the last twenty years, have 
exhibited some little natural increase, tliat the entire African 
race existing among us would increase in the condition of 
freedom. On the contrary, as we know that the eduoalioii 
and capacity to provide for themselves and families, ol' those 
who are now free, much exceed what is found among those 
now enslaved, we must conclude tliatif those now Iree in- 
crease but slowly, if at all, those who are now enslaved 
would positively "diminish if they were emancipated." 

What are the facts.' In that section of the Uni- 
ted States where the highest intellectual, moral, 
and religious culture is attained; where the lasvs 
are better observed than in any other; where the 
free colored man has been longest free, and admit- 
ted to the most civil, political, and social rights; 
where there are more humane asylums for every 
species of the unfortunate than anywhere in the 
world; where no huitian being is obliged to go 
without shelter, food, or raiment; wheie his off- 
spring would be best provided for, there, with all 
his natural increase, with all manumissions, and 
escaped fugitives, tlie increase of the fi'ec colored 
man from 1840 to 1850 was less than 0.25 per cent, 
per annum, and from 1850 to 1860, less than 0.50 
per cent, per annum. I quote again: 

"In New England, from 1810 to IS.'iO, the colored race 
increased a fraction less than two per ceiu. ; from 1850 to 
1660, a fraction more than four per cent. ; and in the half 
century, from 1810 to 1860, only twenty per cent., or one 
fifth. 

" The increase of free colored persons in this country, 
from 1850 to 1860, was at the following rates : 

Per cent. 

In the free States 12.96 

In the slave States 8.69 

In all the States 10.68 

" In the aggregate, the increase was from 424,390 to 
469,709, which is a gain of 45,319, or, as before stated, of 
10.68 per cent. How much of it is by natural increase may 
be determined with proxintatc, although not exact, accu- 
racy. 

•'The number of slaves becoming free by escape was, in 
1850, by tlie census of that year, 1,011, and in 1860, by the 
census of that year, 803. By averaging those numbers, we 
have for the whole decade 9,070, which is at least equal to 
all the colored persons who have left the country within 
tliat lime. There was scarce any emigration of that kind 
prior to the census of 1860, except of the fugitive slaves 
themselves, who seek Canada as a place of refuge. From 
1820 to 1852, a period of thirty-two years, only 2,720 free 
colored persons had left all the States for Liberia.' Of late, 
there has been some emigration of such persons to Mexico 
ajid the West India Islands, to avoid the stringency of the 
severe legislation against free negroes in some of the slave 
States. But without going intounnecessary niceties of cal- 
culation, it is apparent that the escapes from slavery dur- 
ing the decade from 18.>0 will not only balance all the col- 
ored emigration of free persons, but also the number of such 
persons reduced to slavery by kidnapping, or by those mod- 
ern laws of some of the States under which tree persons 
are occasionally sold into the condition of servitude. 

"There remains, then, to be deducted from the increase 
of the free colored, in order to deutrmine their natural 
increase, the number gained by manumissions. These 
amounted, in 18.50, by the census of that year, to 1,467, and 
in 1860, by the census of that year, to 3,010. liy averaging 
those numbers, we have for the whole decade 22,380 as the 
sum total of manumissions, which reduces the gain of the 
free colored population by natural increase to 22,939, which 
is five and two fifths percent. This is between one fourth 
and one filth of the natural increase of the slaves, which 
was quite twenty-four and one half per cent., namely, twcn- 
fy-tliree and one half per cent., as exhibited by the census, 
Snd one per cent, lost by escapes and manumissions. 
"This small natural increase of the free colored race, as 



compared with either the slave or the white population, 
has, of course, always been known to statists. It is easily 
demonstrated as a matter of actual figures, and the causes 
of it are not obscure; but neither the fact itself nor the le- 
gitimate inferences from it have been sufliciently insisted 
upon, or attracted the attention they deserve." 

But there is another grave matter bearing upon 
the subject of this increase. If in New England 
where most favored by law and by public senti- 
ment, his natural increase is so small, how would 
it be in those States where the conflict of race, or, 
if you please, caste and prejudice, is so strong.' 
Wiiat would be his increase there in a state of 
freedom .'' Jeiferson declared it impossible for the 
two races in large numbers to remain together 
witliout conflict, equally free. Such is the opin- 
ion of all southern men, slaveholders and non- 
slaveliolders. The Senators from Kentucky and 
Virginia tell us that it would lead to a conflict of 
race, and probably to the destruction of the weaker 
race. I do not justify this conflict; I speak of facts 
existing. We inust,as statesmen, deal with things 
as they are, and not assume them to be as we 
would have them. I am dealing with facts and not 
fancies, and would address myself to men who 
think and not dream — to wise men, and not mere 
poets or orators. 

Senators, we are compelled to regard, as facts 
bearing upon what will or will not occur, or what 
should or should not be done, the feelings and the 
prejudices of mankind. Ay, sir, these prejudices 
are facts, stubborn, ugly facts, which cannot be 
ignored. From that "irrepressible conflict" — 
call it what you will — of race, caste, or prejudice, 
is it not altogether probable that there would be 
little, if any, increase to the colored population in 
the United States if they were all now as free as 
they are in New England ? On the other hand, Mr. 
Weston says: 

" It is slavery, and nothing else, which multiplies the 
negro in the United States. There are no maids, and no 
widows, among slaves. From the time that the capacity to 
bear children begins with their women, to the time wiien 
it ends, it is in full activity, and as if the natural passion 
stimulating that function, (unrestrained as it is in the case 
of the slave by moral or prudential considerations,) was not 
sufiicient for the avarice of masters, who see an increase 
of their wealth in an increase of their human stock, it is 
further stimulated by rewards and promises of reward." 

Now, Mr. President, here is precisely the point 
where 1 should like to bring the Senator to the 
blackboard again. Let us suppose that the slaves 
were all emancipated, and that they were placed 
under as good circumstances as they now are in 
New England, or Wisconsin, or any of the States 
where they are accepted with the most favor and 
with the least objection, do not these census re- 
turns, with their inexorable logicof figures, show 
that, like the Indian race, they dwindle and dwarf 
in the presence of the white man ; that under most 
fiivorable conditions their increase would not ex- 
ceed ten per cent, in a decade, or one per cent, 
annually. One per cent, upon four millions is but 
forty thousand. If the annual increase would be 
only forty thousand, where is the Senator's posi- 
tion now.' That Senator, the .chairman of the 
Committee on Naval Afl*airs of the Senate of the 
United States, denouncing colonization as the 
most absurd idea that ever entered the head of man 
or woman, a thing not to be tliought of for a mo. 



\ 



B 



ment, because it is beyond the power of all plii- 
lanlliropy and all legishvlion and of our Navy to 
carry away the future increase of this population 
in the United States, wliich, with emancipation, 
v/ould fall at once from twenty-three to ten per 
cent, per decade, from ninety-three thousand five 
hundred annual increase to forty thousand ! Sir, 
two first-class steamers from the city of Nesv Or- 
leans, and two from Charleston, or rather Port 
Royal — for Charleston as a commercial city may 
be among the things that were, and l]eaufort be- 
come Uie future emporium of that State — these four 
steamers, making their trips to the West Indies 
and to tiie countries just across the Gulf, would 
carry the whole increase of this population from 
the United States twice told. It being now de- 
monstrated that the colonization of more than the 
annual increase is a possible thing, I next inquire, 

IS IT PRACTICABLE? 

Here is another problem in figures applied to 
history, to which I would call the attention of the 
Senator from New Hampshire. Previous to 1850, 
the annual importation of slaves by the slave trade 
from Africa into America, including Cuba, was 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thou- 
sand; and since that time, when by the armed 
forces of Great Britain, the slave trade to Brazil 
was broken up, the annual importation of slaves 
into Cuba now, from ISoO to 1860, has been at 
the rate of fifty thousand every year. The num- 
ber annually stolen from Africa, brought by vio- 
lence three thousand miles across the sea to Cuba 
and sold there, in spite of treaties, in spite of the 
'fleets of Great Britain, France, and the United 
States, is ten thousand more than the whole in- 
crease of the colored population of the United 
States would be if they wen; now emancipated. 

If, in spite of treaties, if under the ban of piracy, 
with the halter on their necks, moved by base 
cupidity alone, a few obscure and outlawed men, 
in face of the armed ships of the three greatest 
commercial Powers of the world, can bring fifty 
thousand slaves three thousand miles to Cuba, 
cannot a great nation, in the inten^sts of freedom, 
humanity, and the glory of all mankind, colonize 
annually forty thousand men in the bcsland rich- 
est countries in the world, lying almost at its feet.' 
But, Mr. President, it may be said that these 
are mere arithmetical problems, built u|i on sup- 
positions, on figures only. I propose, sir, to call 
tile attention of the Senate for a short time to some 
facts that have transpired in relation to the great 
voluntary migrations of the liuman family. I shall 
not dwell upon llie migration of the people of 
I.srael to the land of Canaan, by which from three 
to four millions of people were talcen out at one 
time from the land of Egypt, their house of bond- 
age, to Palestine. Myfrieiid [Mr. Wilmot] shakes 
his head. Has he ever gone into the figures.' 

Mr. WILMOT. No, sir. There were about 
six hundred thousand; that was all. 

Mr. DOOLITTLE. That my friend /i<w not 

goncinlo the figures is vcvy evident. I have. There 

were six hundred thousand men, besides their wives 

and children. 

Mr. FOSTER. Fighting men. 

Mr. DOOLITTLE. " Fightingmcn,"myhon- 



orable friend from Connecticut says. Figure upon 
that! There undoubtedly are not less voters in 
a community under our system than there were 
fighting men in Israel, and it is safe to calculate 
six or seven persons to one voter upon the aver- 
age; so that,if thefigljting men were '600,000, mul- 
tiply the number by i5ix, and you have 3,600,000, 
or by seven, and you will have 4,200,000. But, 
sir, as I said, I do not jiropose to dwell upon that 
case. It may be said, and truly said, they were 
led out in the midst of great and miraculous events 
under special superintendence of the Most High, 
who appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pil- 
lar of fire by night, leading them through the Red 
sea, feeding them by miracles in the wilderness, 
and carrying them safely through at last to the 
land of Canaan. 

When I remember, however, the terrible judg- 
ments upon the Egyptians for refusing to allow 
the children of Israel to go out of Egypt, to their 
promised land, I cannot but remember that in this 
country there are two extremes of opinion, both 
meeting in the same thing. The fanatical devotees 
of slavery, and the par eacc/Zence friends of imme- 
diate abolition, join in denouncing colonization, 
the most practicable mode of removing this down- 
trodden race from their house of bondage to their 
promised land. 

But, sir, there have been other great migrations 
mentioned in history. During the decline of the 
Roman empire, its provinces were overrun by 
those great swarms of emigrants from the north- 
ern hives. They came not in regularly organized 
armies, but as whole peoples, with their wives and 
children like great overllowing floods, bearing 
down the armies of the empire, and sweeping all 
in their way, spreading themselves everywhere, 
taking possession of wliolc countries and peoples, 
and subjecting the luxurious and degenerate citi- 
zens of Pcome to the dominion of greater and 
stronger men from the north of Europe and Asia. 
I am reminded of those migrations in some re- 
spects by what we now witness going on in our 
own midst. We behold six hundred thousand 
strong men from the northern States overflowing 
into these beautiful regions. They have come at 
the call of their country, not as invaders, but as 
protectors, to maintain the Union and the Consti- 
tution. They have come to stand side by side with 
the loyal Uiiion-loving men of the South, to fight 
for their homes and their firesides, to defend them 
against secession and treason and military despot- 
ism; but I say to our friends there, I believe, as I 
; believe in my existence, many, many, if not most, 
have come to stay. They are falling in love with 
' your goodly lands in Alaryland, Virginia, Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. True to their 
j Anglo-Saxon instincts for land, they are going to 
take possession of them, not by force, not by de- 
priving any loyal citizen of his rights, but by 
peaceful purchase. When peace comes again, 
many will send for their wives and children, and 
make their homes with you forever. Those who 
have no wives will marry your daughters. I am in- 
formed that in one of the'Wisconsin regiments, sta- 
tioned nearly a year in Maryland, seventy young 
soldiers were married to the girls of Maryland. 
Surely that is " reconstructing the Union' upon 



I 



9 



lasting foundations. These men will join with 
you to regenerate and redeem States like old Vir- 
ginia. How sad tlie decline into which she has 
fallen from the fatal mistake of following after the 
new dogmas of Calhoun, instead of holdingfast to 
the ideas of her own great Jefferson ! from foster- 
ing and encouragingslavery as a blessing, instead 
of throwing it off as a curse ! from tilling her soil 
by half a million of negro slaves, instead of devel- 
oping all her resources by the free and energetic 
toil of what she might have had in their places, 
two millions of free white men ! Sir, she is yet to 
recover. Young Virginia, already represented on 
this floor, holding once more the same enlarged 
views upon slavery and upon all other questions, 
which were entertained by Washington, Jeffer- 
son, and Madison, by all the men of the earlier, 
and, as some say, the better days of the Republic, 
aided by the influx of these thousands from the 
North, bringing with them the same ideas which 
Virginia, through her great men, taught them, will 
regenerate herself, and become in one or two gen- 
erations what she might have been now but for this 
accursed institution. Notwithstanding what her 
traitorous sons have done, notwithstanding what 
her Floyds and Masons and Hunters, following 
the evil teachings of Calhoun, have done, to mis- 
lead her people and carry them into this rebellion; 
notwithstanding her wretched and despicable con- 
dition now, still, in spite of all this, for what she 
once was, and for what she is yet to be, I shall 
speak of her always with feelings of gratitude and 
respect. Besides, sir, Wisconsin was born of Vir- 
ginia. She was her youngest born. But I thank 
God that she was born of her in the days of her 
greatness; when the ideas of Washington, Jeffer- 
son, and Madison, and not the ideas of Calhoun 
and his followers, led her councils; when Virginia 
loved liberty more than she loved slavery; when 
Virginia, feeling the curse of slavery upon herself, 
by the great law of maternity stamped upon her 
offspring — the great Northwest — her own love of 
liberty and her own hatred against slavery for- 
ever. The debt of gratitude which Wisconsin and 
all the Northwest owes to Virginia for that great 
deed, and but for which the same blighting curse 
would now rest upon the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois, no language can express and no grat- 
itude can repay. Oh, what a change has taken 
place since she has been seduced by listening to 
Calhoun's suggestion, ar;d said to herself — 

" Slavery tlioii art my blessing, 
From henceforth evil be tliou my good." 

" Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen !" 
from Washington down to Wise ! from Jefferson 
to Hunter! from Mason of the Revolution, the 
grandfather, down to Mason the degenerate and 
traitorous grandson ! But I will not give up Vir- 
ginia yet. 1 believe in the resurrection and the life. 
I expect to see her rise again; to hear her speak 
again the language of Washington and of Jeffer- 
son and of Madison. I think I hear it even now 
sometimes. I think I shall see her once more, 
looking, hoping, praying, for emancipation, that 
God in his own good time will enable her to get 
rid of that institution which has been a curse and 
a blight upon her, which has reduced her from 



her high position as the emfure State of the Union 
to a fourth or a fifth class State, in power and in 
population. 

And, sir, I must say that I listened with pain 
to some remarks that fell from our friends on this 
side of the Chamber yesterday, in addressing 
themselves to the honorable Senator from Vir- 
ginia, [Mr. Willey.] When that Senator tells us 
that he has of his own means spent more money 
in emancipating slaves than' I am worth three 
times over; when he tell us that by his efforts, 
and the efforts of Mr. Botts, of Virginia, who now 
lies in jail confined as a Union man, because he 
will stand by the flag of the Union, his State was 
prevented from adopting into its constitution a 
clause banishing forever or reenslaving the whole 
free colored population of that State; when he 
tells us that, and says that he is willing to sacri- 
fice all he has, even life itself, for the Union and 
the Constitution, I am pained to hear Senators 
address him in any other language than that of 
kindness and respect. Sir, if he differs from me 
in some ■views on slavery or anything else, so long 
as his heart beats true to the flag, and his foot 
keeps step to themusic of the Uiiion; so long as 
he has given evidence of his devotion to the cause 
of emancipation by great self-sacrifice; so long as 
he has stood U|i in his own State, where it required 
both physical and moral courage to stand up, for 
the truth and for the rights of this poor oppressed 
race, I will honor him, and I will give him the 
hand of friendship, and tell him, thank God, and 
take courage, better times are coming to us and 
to the Republic. Sir, beyond this storm of war, 
and all the blood and agony and tears it brings, 
I see the dawning of a better day rising upon this 
Republic. We are to be restored to the good old 
ideas and good old ways of the fathers who 
achieved our liberties, founded our Government, 
and administered it with such success for three 
generations. 

But, Mr. President, I beg pardon for this di- 
gression, into which I have been drawn unexpect- 
edly to myself. 1 will return at once to the ques- 
tion, for I desire this day to deal in nothing but 
facts and figures. 

I pass over the great migration of the children 
of Israel to Palestine — I dwell no longer upon 
the great migrations of the northern barbarians 
when they overran the Roman empire — I come 
down to our own time, to what we have seen in 
our own day and generation. Take for instance 
the migrations from Great Britain, with a popu- 
lation of 28,000,000. In the ten years, from 1847 
to 185G, inclusive, 2, 800, 000 persons migrated from 
Great Britain and Ireland, none of them on voy- 
ages shorter than that across the broad expanse 
of the stormy Atlantic, many of them to the south- 
ern extremity of Africa — the utmost verge of the 
real or fabled circumnavigation of Hanno — and 
still more, over a distance equal to two thirds of 
the circuit of the globe, to the antipodal regions 
of Australasia. This emigration from a popula- 
tion averaging 28,000,000, during the term of their 
movement, would only be equaled, proportional 
numbers being taken into the account, by an emi- 
gration from this country of 3,700,000 during the 
ten years to come. In the eight years, from 1847 



10 



to 1854, inclusive, this migration from Great Brit- 
ain and Ireland, numbered 2,444,8U0 persons, 
which is at a rate still more rapid. 

But I call special attention to the case of Ireland, 
the green isle of Erin. The total Iri.sh emigration 
for the six years, from 1847 to 1852, inclusive, was 
1,313,226. (Thirteenth General Report of British 
Commissioners of Emigration.) In 1854, it was 
150,209. Assuming for 1853 an emigration of 
187,603, which is tlie mean of the emigration for 
the years 1852 and 1854, we have for the eight 
years, from 1847 to 1854, inclusive, a total emigra- 
tion of 1,681,359. Talcing the average population 
of Ireland from 1847 to 1854, at the 6,500,000 of 
the census of 1851, the emigration in that period 
of eight years was more than one fourth of the 
population. A proportional emigration from the 
United Stales for eight years to come would be 
9,000,000. And the American people are a rich, 
commercial,and navigating people, while the Irish 
were poor to a proverb, and so little of a naviga- 
ting people, that the bulk of their emigrants were 
absolutely obliged to make one voyage across the 
Irish channel, at least half as much of an under- 
taking as it would be to go from New Orleans 
across the Gulf, to find a port affording the neces- 
sary facilities for their final exodus. 

This case of Irish emigration from 1847 to 1854, 
which includes the period of a too well remem- 
bered famine, is an extreme one; but it is always 
extreme cases which show what is possible to be 
done. And if the case is extreme, so it proves 
altogether more than is necessary to be proved in 
the matter on hand, as nobody supposes that it 
can be necessary or desirable to colonize the whole 
of our colored population in eight years, if at all; 
and if it was, the Irish example shows that we 
could colonize within tiiat term twice as many col- 
ored people as we actually have, slave and free. 

But again, sir, here is a problem to which I 
should ask the Senator's attention if he were here 
at the blackboard. Here is a problem in the rule 
of three. If 6,500,000 poor people, not a navi- 
gating people, can emigrate — for voluntary coloni- 
zation is emigration— 1,600,000, three thousand 
miles across the Atlantic in eight years, how many 
could 30,000,000 of people emigrate but six hun- 
dred or one thousand miles in the same time? 

Mr. COWAN. That is the double rule of three. 
[Laughter. 1 

Mr. DOdLlTTLE. So it is. It involves both 
time and distance as well as population. 

Again, sir, from September 30, 1843, to Decem- 
ber 31, 1856, there arrived in the United States 
from foreign countries, 3,635,460 persons, Ger- 
many beingthe principal contributor nexlafier the 
British empire to this vast immigration. In thir- 
teen years, therefore, by the voluntary emigration 
mainly of lh(j poor and oppressed people of Europe 
of our own race to the United States, we have 
received a population almost equal to the whole 
number of slavrs within the United Stales. 

Mr. FOSTER. And they came in sailingships. 

Mr. DOOLITTLE. As my honorable friend 
remarks, they came in sailing sliips, too. 

Mr. President, I have another problem. It is 
estimated that ten times the present number ofall 
the slaves in the United States have been stolen 



from Africa and brought to the continent of Amer- 
ica to be sold as slaves; yes, sir, 40,000,000 ; ten 
times the present number of all the slaves in the 
United States. The Encyclopedia Americana says 
that the number of negroes brought by the slave 
trade has been "calculated to amount during the 
last three centuries to above 40,000,000." Can- 
not the annual increase of 93,500, the rate in which 
they increase as slaves, or 40,000, the rate at which 
they increase in the condition of freedom, emigrate 
from the United Statesif iheyare willintjand desire 
to go, and that too, not across the Atlantic, but just 
across the Gulf of Mexico, or into the islands in 
the Gulf or the Caribbean sea? All these figures 
demonstrate with mathematical certainty the ease 
with which any amount of colonization of our col- 
ored people, which can be considered to be neces- 
sary in order to render emancipation safe and ac- 
ceptable, can be managed. The fullness of time 
has arrived, in our numbers, in our abounding 
wealth, in the vast improvements in the safety, 
cheapness, and comfort with which seas are trav- 
ersed, and finally in the various choice of regions 
to which the colored race may be deported. The 
longest voyage is back to that continent from 
which ten times as many as we have now in this 
country have been dragged by violence, while 
available and substantially unoccupied areas, in 
close proximity to us, already invite this species 
of immigration. 
The question now arises, 

HOW FAR IS COLONIZATION DESIRABLE.' 

It is not to be expected that the whole of this 
population is suddenly or perhaps ever to be col- 
oniz(;d out of the United States; no man ever 
dreamt^d of such a thing. But if a number equal 
to the annual increase, and a little more, could be 
colonized or induced to emigrate to a country far 
better for themselves than to remain here, so that 
the people of the slave States shall see the amount 
of this population diminishing instead of increas- 
ing, and tiieir white population increasing and not 
diminishing, they will become satisfied to have 
emancipation begin in their States. It will be in 
their estimation no longer an impossible nor an 
improbable thing, even in the slave States where 
the most slaves exist. The idea, the hope of col- 
onization, therefore, will aid emancipation in all 
the slave States. 

Mr. President, for myself, I favor emancipation 
wherever I have constitutional power, because it 
will give freedom to this race. Besides, sir, eman- 
cipation will aid colonization. They will practi- 
cally aid and sustain each other, and therefore 
I favor both. But I urge my friends who de- 
sire to see emancipation to favor colonization, 
because I believe that idea is necessary in order to 
allow an emancipation party to arise and sustain 
itself among the people of the States where slavery 
now exists. They tell me, .sir, the Sfuator from 
Virginia, tne Senator from Kentucky, every Sen- 
ator coming from these States, and' every man, 
woman, and child who comes from these States, 
tells me that it is utterly impossible for them to 
talk of emancipation within a^y slave State with- 
out connecting with it the idea of colonization. 
Can there be a party and nobody belong to it.-' 



11 



When all the people residing in those States tell 
us thnt it is an absolute necessity in order to get 
their people — I do not mean the rebels, but the 
Union-loving people who are pouring out their 
blood like water to defend the Union and the Con- 
stitution — to consider tiie question of emancipa- 
tion of slaves, or take hold of that question, or act 
upon it, or even speak of it, that they connect 
with it the idea of colonization; shall we not allow 
them to do so? That is the question. 

I should rejoice in my whole soul to see both. 
There never has been an hour in my life when on 
this subject of human slavery all there is manly 
within me did not rise against it; when every 
powerplaced in my hands constitutionally I would 
not be willing to exercise in order to do away with 
iteverywhere throughout the whole earth. Every- 
where I would give universal liberty to universal 
man. But I believe that these questions of emanci- 
pation and colonization are so connected together 
in those States where slavery now exists, that it 
is next to impossible for the friends of emancipa- 
tion there to get a hearing by the people of those 
States, much less to proceed with emancipation, 
without discussing and carrying forward at the 
same time a system of generous colonization of 
the emancipated peo[)le to some country beyond 
the jurisdiction of the United Slates. 

• IT IS GOOD ECONOMY 

to plant colonies. 

It is not necessary to expend any very large 
sums of money, especially in the initiation of this 
policy. I will say that one half the amount we 
annually expend in taking care of the Indians — 
the Indian a|>propriation bill now pending pro- 
poses to appropriate |,1, 700. 000, and the additional 
estimates of the Secretary of the Interior are about 
$1,500,000 more, making in all $3,200,000— the 
expenditure of one half the amount which wo 
make for the Indian race would open the way and 
organize a system. It would lay the foundations 
for a great, free, voluntary, and, in great measure, 
aself-sustainingcolonization for these people from 
this country, which would talce them to countries 
better adapted to them, to which they will go by 
hundreds of thousands, for the same reason that 
the Irish and the Germans and other people of 
Europe come to the United States — to seek a bet- 
ter home, where they can make more money and 
enjoy better privileges and make more rapid ad- 
vancement for themselves and for their children. 

Besides, Mr. President, looking at this as an 
economical question, it is not only not necessary 
to expend any very large sums of money, but I 
think I could show that even a large amount ex- 
pended in this way might be made to subserve the 
agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing in- 
terests of the country. The judicious expenditure 
of one, two, three, or five millions of dollars by 
the Government of the United States in planting 
colonics all along the Gulf of Mexico and the Ca- 
ribbean sea, in Vera Cruz, Guatemala, Nicaragua, 
Honduras, the Balize, Venezuela, as well as in 
Hayti and San Domingo, and all the islands of 
the Gulf and the Caribbean sea, would be a great 
and valuable investment, bringing rich returns to 
the people of the United States in the commerce 



it would build up there. Our commerce with the 
single republic of Hayti now stands, I believe, 
twenty-first in the whole list of our commercial 
relations with the civilized Powers of the earth. 
The republic of Hayti offers to thesi; people, if 
they are unable to pay the expense of their own 
emigration, to bear that expense for them; and it 
offers to give them employment, and offers to give 
them homesteads; over two thousand have ac- 
cepted these offers, and have voluntarily, upon 
their own account, gone there. San Domingo 
alone, it is estimated, is capable, if it should be 
populated as the island of Barbadoes is, of holding 
thirty millions of these peo|ile. There is no mis- 
take about it. If my friend u'ho shakes his head 
in doubt [Mr. Wilmot] will go to the figures he 
will see it. I shall not take time now to go to the 
blackboard again, but if he will cipher it out he 
will find it so. If the island of San Domingo was 
no more thickly populated than is Porto Rico to 
the square mile, it would take the whole of our 
present colored population. 

But, sir, that island is but a speck on the map 
compared with those immense regions waiting for 
them, and which it would seem as if the Almighty 
had reserved for them. I wish to call the atten- 
tion of the Senate to some facts bearing on this, 
for my attention, perhaps, has been more drawn 
to it than that of some other Senators. Take down 
the map. Here is Mexico, which stands ready to 
form a treaty with us to-day, by which she will 
give homesteads in any of her States to these peo- 
ple, if they will go there. Down the coast, near 
Tampico, they have gone out from New Orleans, 
on their own account, and have built up a flour- 
ishing colony. See, there lies Yucatan, which 
comes up as a peninsula right into the Gulf of 
Mexico. There is the small island of Cozumel, 
about twenty miles square, which we could prob- 
ably purchase, make it a coaling station for the 
United States and a good harbor for us, and a 
depot for carrying out a system of colonization in 
the Mexican States. Mexico is cajiable of receiv- 
ing, and willing to receive, any amount of this 
population. Besides, sir, coming nearer home, 
right adjoining Texas there lies Tamaulipas. As 
the rebels recede before our advancing armies, they 
may flee with many of their slaves into Texas, 
perhaps. From Texas they have only to cross a 
river to get into Mexico. 

Look along down the Gulf. Vera Cruz has 
nearly six hundred miles of coast where the col- 
ony below Tampico, to which I have referred, al- 
ready exists. Then there is Tehuantepec, with 
a hundred miles of coast and a route across from 
the Gulf to the Pacific ocean. Then there is Ta- 
basco, with two hundred miles of coast; Yucatan, 
with probably more than one thousand; Balize, 
Guatemala, with five hundred miles of coast and 
the beautiful Gulf of Honduras. I beg to say in 
relation to Guatemala, that the president of that 
State offers to give his own hacienda to these peo- 
ple if they go there, and further, jih^dges his in- 
fluence for legislation in their fovor, giving home- 
steads to all who choose to go there, in a country 
where the cotton plant is almost perennial, and to 
which no country on the face of the earth is su- 
perior in the production of coffee, sugar, cotton 



12 



cochineal, and the other valuable tropical produc- 
tions. Tlien there are Honduras and the Bay Isl- 
ands, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and New Granada, 
including the provinces of Chiriqui, Veraguas, 
Cariha^'riiM, Santa Martha, and Rio Hacha. 
There, lo), is the beautiful valley of the Alagda- 
lena river, just across the Gulf of Mexico, invit- 
ing these people to come toils bosom by millions 
upon millions, capable of sustaining them and giv- 
ing them successful employment. There is Ve- 
nezuela, too, with a thousand miles of coast below 
the Caribbean sea. I saw the other day our min- 
ister lately returned from Venezuela, I conversed 
with him in relation to that country, and on this 
very sul>iect. He informed me that for a thou- 
sand miles on that coast is a rich and fertile coun- 
try, indent I'd with beautiful bays and harbors, and 
capable of producing, in coffee, cottoti, and sugar, 
more than almost any othercountry in the world. 
It stands tii-day,I believe, only fourth in the pro- 
duction of coffee. 

Mr. President, some would force on at once the 
emancipation of this whole population, and at the 
same time and in the same breath scout all ideas 
ofaidingthem incolonizationoremigration. Upon 
the other hand, there are others wlio would force 
the colonization of every free negro from the slave 
States, and who scout all attempts even to con- 
sider the question of emancipation at all. I have 
no sympathy with the idea of banrshing any peo- 
ple; but 1 do favor the ideas both of emancipation 
and colonization. Each will aid the other, and 
each is to the other the best practical means to aid 
it. Sir, I would inscribe high upon the banner 
which 1 would follow, " &generoiis homestead policy 
for both races, black and white. Homesteads for 
free white men in all the temperate territories of 
the United States homesteads for free colored men 
in the tropics and the islands of the Gulf of Mex- 
ico and the Caribbean sea." I would, by treaty 
arrangemeiU.s with those States, endeavor to build 
up, as we could very easily do, free commercial 
relations, placing upon the manufacturesand pro- 
ductions which we export to those countries but 
light duties, obtaining, perhaps, in consideration 
of the aid Vw'egive them, by planting colonies of our 
people among them, a provision that for a given 
number of years, say five years or ten years, col- 
onists from this country should be permitted to 
receive from the United States, free of all duties, all 
our productions and our manufactures, tlius lay- 
ing the foundations for another market for all the 
■, productions of the Mississippi valley and the man- 
/ ufactures of the East, in exchange for the sugar 
and cotlee of those countries. 

Such a commerce, once begun, would of itself 
make the colonization of this people free, volun- 
tary, and self-sustaining. Our ships would go 
loaded witii emigrants, and return loaded with 
tropical prodiK-tions. I believe that in so doing 
we may be instrumental, under the providence of 
Almighty God, in laying the foundation of an 
empire there, a great republic to be composed of 
these people and their descendants, and of the 
people alrt ady there who stand ready and willing 
and anxious to receive them as a part of them- 
selves, wliich after a few generations will contain 
a hundred millions of human beings; a republic 



which shall be in the tropics what this Republic 
is in the temperate zone of the North American 
continent; a republic which, if it shall grow up 
under our protection, will be a support against for- 
eign intervention, and feel bound to us by interest, 
gratitude, and friendship forever. Although not 
a part of our territorial dominion, they will be 
within our commercial dominion. Sir, when we 
can have free commercial relations with a nation 
which immediately adjoins us, where we will 
send all our products and manufactures, with light 
duties upon them, and receive tiieirs in return, it 
is a practical annexation for all commercial pur- 
poses to the Government of the United States. It 
is as good and better for us than if we should own 
the sovereignty of the territory, and be at the ex- 
pense and trouble of governing it. 

Sir, although all our political relations were sev- 
ered with Great Britain by the Revolution, are we 
not to-day still her best commercial customer.' If 
the tie v/hicli binds Canada to Great Britain were 
severed to-morrow, and if she should unite her 
destinies with the United States, would not Can- 
ada still cotitinue to be one of the best customers 
of Great Britain ? Sir, those rich countries lying at 
our feet, just below the mouth of the Mississippi, 
although outside of our territorial jurisdiction, if 
filled u|) with emigrants from the United States, 
would be practically of us. They would remain 
ourcustomers and our producers forever. I believe 
that to build up the comitiercial interests of this 
country, its agricultural interests, its manufactur- 
ing interests, the expenditure of a comparatively 
small sum of money each year in the negotiation 
of treaties, in opening up the way, in, perhaps, 
estal)lishing lines of steamships between the Uni- 
ted States and the countries just upon our border, 
would be not only wise,but that it would be repaid 
in the end ten, if not a hundred fold. Besides, sir, 
the expenditure of money for the purpose of en- 
larging our commerce with -foreign countries is 
clearly 

COKSTITITIOXAL. 

It is within the express grants of power, and is 
sanctioned by the long established precedents of 
expending money in the removal of Indians. 

In seeking for the constitutional power to com- 
pensate for the value of slaves emancipated within 
the States there is more difTiculty. Ijut I believe 
that will be avoided when the States having slaves 
coiTie to act upon the question of their emancipa- 
tion by following the examples of Pennsylvania 
and other States, making that emancipation pro- 
spective and gradual, and thus avoid the question 
of compensation, leaving the whole amount to be 
expended in aid of their colonization, and in that 
manner this Government can most elTcctually aid 
the States in the great work of emancipation. 

At the risk of apparent repetition, I repeat, I 
would have that colonization voluntary. If com- 
pulsory, it is slavery still. Besides, sir, I would 
iiave the most enterprising, the most intelligent 
and aspiring among that people lead the way. I 
have been addressed by many of that class on this 
subject. They thank me for frankly speaking out 
the truth, and forstatingthc true relation in which 
they stand to the Caucasian race here in this 
country. They thank me for what I have done 



13 



in my amendment to the bill emancipating slaves [. 
in this District, that I was not only for giving: 
them emancipation and freedom, but wasforgiv- i 
in<^ them aid to go to a country in which tiiey '■' 
could aspire to and hope to attain a position ofi; 
social, civil, and political equality which they 
never hope to have in this country, even in New 
England. 

Mr. President, I will repeat again,in order that 
I may not be misunderstood nor misreported 
either, I am opposed to compulsory colonization. 
I.look upon that as a species of slavery itself, as 
adding one wrong to another. I believe, also, 
that if made compulsory, colonization would be 
far less effective in producing the good results of 
which I have spoken than if it were made volun- 
tary, and far less beneficial to the colored race. 

Mr. President, my views on this subject are not 
the growth of a day or a year. They have been 
the result of many years of earnest thought on ' 
the subject, in all its bearings. It is the great 
problem of America. 1 agree with the Senator 
from New Hampshire in that. It is the great prob- 
lem presented to the American statesman, and a 
problem which he must meet, which he cannot 
avoid. It may have been forced upon me, more 
especially within the last five years, because of 
my position upon the Committee on Indian Af- 
fairs; it has been a constant, everj^-day duty to con- 1 
sider in that committee the best mode in which 
we of the Caucasian race here on this continent j 
shall deal with the Indian race to save even its j 
remnants from destruction. Sir, wherever we look ! 
we behold that race dwindling at the presence of \ 
the white man, as the snows are melted and dis- ; 
appear in spring time. This Government has been 
engaged in one continued struggle; it has ex- 
pended millions upon millions to preserve the In- 
dian race, to provide for its support, to take care 
of it, to prevent the selfishness and cupidity and 
often criminal misconduct of the white man to- 
wards it. Upon this subject I have had put into 
ray hands, niul I will ask the Secretary to read a 
letter from Keokuk, the chief of the Sac Indians 
in Kansas, to the Great Father, the President of 
the United States in Washington, to which I ask 
the attention of the Senate, as to a statement as 
eloquent as it is simple, giving the condition of 
his tribe, and his hopes "and his fears as to the 
future. 

The Secretary read, as follows: 

Keokuk, Chief of the Sac Tndians, in Kansas, to the Great 
Father, the President, at Washington : 

I am a chief; my fallier was a chief before me. He is 
dead. lie Ion? had th<* care of our people. It now devolves 
upon me. Their welfare is very dear to me. I look over 
our waning numbers with pain and melancholy forebod- 
ings. I look for the causes of this decay, and seek a rem- 
edy ; hut so far I have sought in vain. As a last hope I 
appeal to you. 

It is well known that in I83-J tlie f ac Indians made war 
upon the whites, and were defeated. .Mter the war we 
made a trentv with our Great Father. 'I'liat treaty we have 
faitlifully kept. So has our Great Father. We do not com- 
plain of' \\\m. We complain to him. He jravc us a plenty 
of land in Kansas, tweniv miles wide by thirty-four Ions, 
and much money— $81,000 a year forlen years, and, S'T 1,000 
per year ever since. And now our land is to be sold to pay 
unjust claims, amounting to >1.50.000 more. 

All this is more moncv than I know how to speak, but it 
would be all thesameif'Uvveremoreorif it were less. The 



Great Father intended it to refresh us like a spring, and 
make us grow and increase. But it runs li.iouL'h tiie hands 
of agents and traders, and is absorbed as a sandy plain ab- 
sorbs the water from the mountain. We were not refreshed. 
We complained. The asents were dismissed and new ones 
appointed. It was all the same. My people lived in tem- 
porarv dwellings, in wigwams and tents. They died Irom 
diseases brought on bv exposure and want. 

We have lived in Kansas eighteen years. We have had 
nine agents, all alike. They are agents for themselves, not 
for us. My people do not number one half that came liere 
after the war. The agents are supercilious and proud. They 
treat us like dog^. Mv people are discouraged and drink 
too much. Thev have lost their self-respect. Tiie agents 
do not listen to the chiefs and head men in council. They 
listen onlv to the traders. When some new plan is devised 
to get the' Indians' money a council is called. If the chiefs 
and head men do not approve, they then take some weak- 
minded Indian and make him a chief, and so do as they 
please.- They bribe him. In this manner they divide the 
Indians and make them act against each other. If the Great 
Father In his wisdom could send us a better plan we shiuld 
be glad. We want a change. We want all the traders to 
go away. We do not want any agent with such powers as 
he now" has. We want our chiefs and head men in council 
to decide many things. Now they decide nothing. The 
most trifling choice is denied us. We lir.ve our preference 
for a blacksmith. This has never been granted us, and is 
not now. We think it best to dispense with a gunsmith ; 
this we are not allowed to do. We need a wagon and plow 
maker, but are not allowed to employ one. U e are anxious 
to commence farming, but we cannot corurol our own 
means. We are like a flv in a spider's web. The agents 
and traders have our feet entangled and we cannot get out. 
We are living poor and in poverty, with adomain of over 
four hundred thousand acres of land, and an annual inconi« 
of .«71,000 per vear. 

Let us have a voice in its management. The results can- 
not be worse. Thev may be better. We cannot live any 
poorer. We cannot die any faster. We cannot snlfer any 
more. .\s things now are we are prevented from making 
any effort. We have faculties like white men ; we have 
; ambition also. Our faculties are not exercised ; our ambi- 
■ tion is not gratified. The agents and traders call my people 
; ill names; they disparage our name and nation. -We are 
conscious of tliis, and manv weak-minded Indians lose their 
! pride of character and of race. I am proud of my name. I 

I am proud of my race. I am no longer the enemy of the 
i white man. I belong to one of many tribes over wliich the 
i Great Fatherrules. We arefriends. Our people are friends. 
I We wish to be treated as friends and equals by the white 
! man, and not as enemies and dogs. 

[l Our goods can be sent to us and distributed under the su- 
4 pervision of the Indian council. 

''] A man can be employed to fit our boys and young men 
! with pants and shirts, suitable to the change which we an- 

' ticipate preparatorv to school and work. 
i: There are manv tilings which we need, to change our 

i condition, which our Great Father will think of better than 
III. I am done. 

II Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. President, I allowed 
the whole of this paper to be read, not as a part 
of my speech, but that it may go upon the record. 
I ma}' desire to use it upon another occasion upon 
another subject. It discloses the samefacts \yhich 
appear in the statement of the Bishop of Minne- 
sota in relation to the Indians of that State, and 
in the statements of all who give any information 
to the President or the Department of the Inte- 
rior or to the Committee on Indian Aftairs. This 
performance of my public duties liereniay have 
forced upon my mind the consideration of the 
question of the relations which these different races 
bear to each other. For five years past upon the 
Committee on Indian Affairs, my attention has 
been constantly drawn to the question of liie deal- 

j ings of the whites with the Indians. As cognate 
i to'that, my mind has been forced to study the re- 
!' lationswebeartothe African racoalso. I have seen 
il some of the slave States passing laws to banish all 



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011 899 223 4 



